The Thunder were competitive throughout the game minus the dismal first quarter where they managed a mere 13 points compared to Minnesota's 24. The Thunder put 28 points up on the board in the second quarter to roar back into the game. The third quarter was pretty even with the Thunder taking a slight advantage. The fourth quarter was fairly even with a slight advantage to the T-wolves until the final 3 minutes where they outscored the Thunder 10-4.Damien Wilkins came off of the bench (but played the third most minutes) and lead the Thunder with 19 points. Chris Wilcox scored 17, and Russell Westbrook (4th overall pick in the 2008 draft) was third highest with 13 points. Westbrook played less than 20 minutes and looked impressive in his first NBA game. Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant had 10 points but was a poor 3 of 13 from the field.
The Thunder suffered from a lack of three point shooting firing off a mere 5 shots from beyond the arc and only hitting one. In comparison, Minnesota made 7 three-pointers in 24 attempts including 2 with about three minutes to go that sealed the Thunder's fate. Unfortunately the Thunder have no real three point threats and this will likely plague them throughout the regular season.
On the bright side, the Thunder had almost twice as many fast break points (19 vs 10) as the Timberwolves. Quick buckets will be a key to victory for the Thunder this season as the Thunder will need a multitude of field goals to overwhelm their opponents and make up for the lack of three point shooting.
1 comment:
Glad to see Westbrook scoring points. He will be a key this season. Jeff Green, last year's other first-round pick, is really going to have to pick it up and show he can score from 3-point range this year.
Glad to see they kept it competitive!
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